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Toro valve incident

Hi everyone;

I seeded a small patch of grass and manually turned on zone 4 - a Toro 3/4" in line valve # 53380. A few months old. After ten minutes I went to turn it off and water flow did not stop. I tapped it a few times, turned the manual control a few times and finally after many tries the flow stopped. I think I'll use the controller from now on for temp watering. Any ideas what the problem was?

I have the same valve for my system (5 zone). I had this happen to 2 of my valves, and they are only 3 months old. They would work fine on the controller, but would not close if I used the bleed screw. I found out that the stem of the bleed screw was dirty. I took the solenoid apart (with water to system off), cleaned it, and reseated the rubber seal/spring/solenoid, and flushed it out a few times, and its fine.

When you take the valve apart, be sure to remmeber where everything goes. I'm good at taking things apart and putting them together without worry, but I know some people who have a hard time with that.

Let us know how it goes.

I'm no expert..........YET! I just like to suggest things and learn... See what the pro's have to say first.

Toro valves of their classic one-inch models have always been extremely slow to close when they have been opened by way of the bleed screw on the valve. Minutes pass, and you are convinced there has been some failure. More minutes pass, and the valve closes.

Wet_Boots: This is a 3/4" model though. Mine are 3/4" too and close after about 5-10 seconds.

wsommariva: When I installed my system, I left room for myself to work inside the box if needed to (ex. 3 valves per box). I cleaned them inside the box/still attached to the manifold. All you do is take the top 4 screws off carefully, and don't let the "solenoid plunger" fall out of the top bottom.

I'm no expert..........YET! I just like to suggest things and learn... See what the pro's have to say first.

One thing about my install that bothers me. I think I should have used unions so I could remove the valves easier. I have four valves in one box. Everything works great but down the road I'll need to remove the valve box and it's a PITA. Someday when I redo the valves and manifold I'll install unions and get one of those big valve boxes.